Friend or foe? The impact of high‐performance work practices on workplace bullying

• Date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Denise Salin,Guy Notelaers
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12281
• Published date: 01 April 2020

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Friend or foe? The impact of high-performance

work practices on workplace bullying

Denise Salin

1

| Guy Notelaers

2

1

Department of Management and

Organization, Hanken School of Economics,

Helsinki, Finland

2

Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty

of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen,

Norway

Correspondence

Denise Salin, Department of Management and

Organization, Hanken School of Economics,

PO Box 479, 00101 Helseinki, Finland.

Email: denise.salin@hanken.fi

Funding information

Norges Forskningsråd, Grant/Award Number:

250127; Suomen Akatemia, Grant/Award

Numbers: 266294, 308843

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship

between high-performance work practices (HPWPs) and

workplace bullying and identify possible mediators. The

study presents hypotheses based on two competing per-

spectives: a mutual gains perspective, arguing that HPWPs

lead to higher perceptions of justice and less role conflict,

thereby reducing the risk of bullying; and, a critical perspec-

tive, arguing that HPWPs lead to work intensification and

competition among colleagues, and thereby to more bully-

ing. A two-wave survey (n= 209) was conducted among

business professionals in Finland. The results show that

HPWPs are associated with less bullying, and justice and

role conflict mediated the relationship. Thus, the results

provide support for the mutual gains perspective on

HPWPs, challenging prevailing assumptions in the bullying

literature that suggest performance-enhancing HR practices

are a risk factor. Instead, the results point to the significance

of HPWPs as an important tool to prevent bullying.

KEYWORDS

high-performance work practices, justice, role conflict, work

intensification, workplace bullying

1|INTRODUCTION

Extensive research has shown that workplace bullying has severe negative consequences for both the individuals

and organizations concerned, including negative effects on employee well-being and attitudes and costs for organiza-

tions (Hoel, Sheehan, Cooper, & Einarsen, 2011; Nielsen & Einarsen, 2012). This makes it importantto better under-

stand the risk factors for bullying and how management may reduce that risk through their policies and decisions.

Received: 20 February 2018 Revised: 15 November 2019 Accepted: 21 December 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12281

312 © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Hum Resour Manag J. 2020;30:312–326.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj